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Review
"[Miller] gets it so right...sit back, revel in the shock of recognition, and laugh aloud." --Laurie Taylor, Times Higher Education
"...a tour of aging ought to be depressing...this strange, dark, intellectual kilm will keep you constructively engaged"
--Liz Else, New Scientist CultureLab
"...a tour of aging ought to be depressing...this strange, dark, intellectual kilm will keep you constructively engaged"
--Liz Else, New Scientist CultureLab
Review
"Beautifully written, original, deeply insightful, often laugh-out-loud witty, and on not a few occasions (despite the author's curmudgeonly persona) a moving and affecting book."--Andrew Stark, Professor of Strategic Management, the University of Toronto--Andrew Stark
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4 reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Blackly funny, and wonderfully thought provoking, especially for retirees
26 Dec 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
****
"Miller finds time in between his beautifully nuanced accounts of ageing to find consoling and illustrative analogies in the lives of a vast range of historical and literary figures. But then Miller, apart from being a hugely accomplished social analyst, is also a distinguished professor of law and an expert on medieval history and Icelandic sagas."-- Laurie Taylor, U. of London
*
Growing old gracefully became my only wish since my retirement few years past, probably shared with many other retirees around the globe. Loosing mental faculties starting with memory, and capacity to focus could be more alarming to many elderly than the physical loss of body fitness which comes with age, aging was and still is inevitable. While this book is written by a law professor, rather than a neurologist, Miller articulates his human fears of brain disorders manifesting itself in premature senility.
German neurologist Alois Alzheimer, who devoted his work, a century ago, to the study of the pathology of the nervous system, prescribed the degenerative brain disease, the most common form of dementia. It usually starts in late middle or old age, that results in progressive loss of memory , impaired thinking, disorientation, and changes in personality and mood, leading in advanced cases to a profound decline in cognitive and physical functioning, marked by the degeneration of brain neurons especially in the cerebral cortex.
Miller starts by defining all terms in use, and sets the limits of his compelling essays, and expresses the common grounds with the ordinary reader, sharing in strong words, his irritation and contempt of positive psychology. Starting, he describes in unsettling details the alternative paths of brain rot, with historical examples from Beowulf to Talmudic sages, old Christians and pagans. He proceeds to part II on wisdom, exclaiming; What can the quality of the wisdom you achieve be when it comes when mental abilities are fading.
In the third part, he presents the complaints of the elderly, their style, and to whom they are addressed, eventually to the Lord God. Retirement from active life is discussed, and endorsed with comments reflecting the bitterness and self pity, many express in apathy. He unveils his legal expertise, in passing, warning against property transfer worries, dealing with end-of-the-road reflections. He wonders, in witty blackly sarcasm that, "Nowadays, we do not find it natural to die, even in old age." !
"Miller finds time in between his beautifully nuanced accounts of ageing to find consoling and illustrative analogies in the lives of a vast range of historical and literary figures. But then Miller, apart from being a hugely accomplished social analyst, is also a distinguished professor of law and an expert on medieval history and Icelandic sagas."-- Laurie Taylor, U. of London
*
Growing old gracefully became my only wish since my retirement few years past, probably shared with many other retirees around the globe. Loosing mental faculties starting with memory, and capacity to focus could be more alarming to many elderly than the physical loss of body fitness which comes with age, aging was and still is inevitable. While this book is written by a law professor, rather than a neurologist, Miller articulates his human fears of brain disorders manifesting itself in premature senility.
German neurologist Alois Alzheimer, who devoted his work, a century ago, to the study of the pathology of the nervous system, prescribed the degenerative brain disease, the most common form of dementia. It usually starts in late middle or old age, that results in progressive loss of memory , impaired thinking, disorientation, and changes in personality and mood, leading in advanced cases to a profound decline in cognitive and physical functioning, marked by the degeneration of brain neurons especially in the cerebral cortex.
Miller starts by defining all terms in use, and sets the limits of his compelling essays, and expresses the common grounds with the ordinary reader, sharing in strong words, his irritation and contempt of positive psychology. Starting, he describes in unsettling details the alternative paths of brain rot, with historical examples from Beowulf to Talmudic sages, old Christians and pagans. He proceeds to part II on wisdom, exclaiming; What can the quality of the wisdom you achieve be when it comes when mental abilities are fading.
In the third part, he presents the complaints of the elderly, their style, and to whom they are addressed, eventually to the Lord God. Retirement from active life is discussed, and endorsed with comments reflecting the bitterness and self pity, many express in apathy. He unveils his legal expertise, in passing, warning against property transfer worries, dealing with end-of-the-road reflections. He wonders, in witty blackly sarcasm that, "Nowadays, we do not find it natural to die, even in old age." !
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
unexpected pleasure
30 Dec 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
What an unexpected pleasure! A serious book loaded with wit, wisdom and knowledge. Not my usual read, but I must say, I enjoy Mr. Miller's style and willingness to share his self examinations with us. Truly envy his students. Recommend to young and older, alike.
5 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Ph.D. in kvetching/whining
16 Feb 2012
Format:Hardcover
When I went to this site I a saw a previous review that used the word "kvetch." For days since trying to read the book that is all that came to my mind. The old story goes that Eskimos have umpteen words for snow since it is so prevalent in their culture. Well there is certain Jewish type, that could win the Nobel Prize and find a reason to whine and complain, "oy that long trip to Sweden, it will be cold....." Kvetch is a yiddish word, the language that grew out of German amongst those living in the Jewish ghettos of Eastern Europe. Just like eskimos and 20 kinds of snow, if you have been a part of the culture, there is a type that caused this term to be created. This book is the author showing off his erudition reaching into a grab-bag of historic literary precedents for his constant kvetching but good grief, it got to where I even put the book under things so I wouldn't see it until I could return it to the library--it became creepy in its ugliness. There is nothing in it about growing old that has not occurred to anyone who has been close to someone who goes through the experience or is going through it themselves, such as myself. He just whines and used literary references more than anyone else.
Just got off the phone with a 95 year old uncle who wants to go to Belize for fun in the sun and his girlfriend, 86, is discouraging him. My mom made it to 93 and was bright and shiny about the fascinating experience of the changes in her mind as she aged. I am in my late '60s and planning changes to my vintage car collection once I hit 70s and can no longer turn a wrench while lying under and reaching, and caught myself wishing I would hurry up and get to be 70 I am so excited about the different cars I will buy when I sell the current ones. So far, I have not had to interact with anyone such as Mr. Miller, I am sorry I even tried to read his so depressing and ugly book about one of life's invetiable and no less complex and interesting stages as any other.
Maybe a positive note: I began my career as an academic and then went off to the private sector, one of the motivators was my dislike of the personalities of many of my colleagues, in particular their sense of self-importance. Perhaps Mr. Miller may be excused because he is still in shock that an academic self-apppointed "king-of-the-hill" such as himself (and he does describe himself in that way) could now be failing. The shock to his self image could be overwhelming more rational discourse.
P.S. hmm, sure is a kvetchy review, maybe it takes one to know one
Just got off the phone with a 95 year old uncle who wants to go to Belize for fun in the sun and his girlfriend, 86, is discouraging him. My mom made it to 93 and was bright and shiny about the fascinating experience of the changes in her mind as she aged. I am in my late '60s and planning changes to my vintage car collection once I hit 70s and can no longer turn a wrench while lying under and reaching, and caught myself wishing I would hurry up and get to be 70 I am so excited about the different cars I will buy when I sell the current ones. So far, I have not had to interact with anyone such as Mr. Miller, I am sorry I even tried to read his so depressing and ugly book about one of life's invetiable and no less complex and interesting stages as any other.
Maybe a positive note: I began my career as an academic and then went off to the private sector, one of the motivators was my dislike of the personalities of many of my colleagues, in particular their sense of self-importance. Perhaps Mr. Miller may be excused because he is still in shock that an academic self-apppointed "king-of-the-hill" such as himself (and he does describe himself in that way) could now be failing. The shock to his self image could be overwhelming more rational discourse.
P.S. hmm, sure is a kvetchy review, maybe it takes one to know one
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